Where You Hang Your Hat

Home is where you hang your hat, so goes the old saying.  But that's not true.  I've had hats hanging in lots of place I didn't call home, and for good reason.  I didn't really live there.  I resided there for a while, but that's not what I call home.  To me, home is a place you look forward to going back to.  It's a place where you not only keep all your stuff; it's where you keep you points of reference.  Meeting someone new always requires a few minutes of introduction which means you're giving people your reference points.  What's your name?  Where do you live?  What do you do?  In my case I tell them my name is Phil Martin, and I live in Brady, Texas, and I'm a retired college professor who writes books and sometimes builds guitars.  If they want more, I can tell them I'm a husband, father, and grandfather.  If the discussion goes deeper than that, I might tell them that I'm an animal lover, and that I like to collect old things like cameras, audio equipment, and musical instruments.  I might even tell them I'm a left wing Democrat, a tree hugger environmentalist, and an avid reader.
Those are things that identify me as what I am.  Those things are my reference points, and even though they might be important to other people in identifying me, they are much more important to me in identifying myself.  We all need to know who we are . . . and where we belong.

I belong in a small town because I hate urban living.  Were it left to me, I wouldn't live in a town at all, would be out in the country somewhere.  I've always had this dream of living in a log cabin out in wild country somewhere, but that's not practical.  Small town living is a good compromise for me, and I like the one I live in.  Brady, Texas has a population of about 5,500 people, just big enough to have a few things of convenience.  Most things a person needs can be bought right here, but in case it isn't, we're close to several cities - Austin, San Antonio, Abilene, and San Angelo.  Brady isn't quaint like the neighboring town of Mason, but it's a nice old town.  And people are friendly here.  The best thing about living here is that I'm left alone to do my thing.  Most people pay no attention to me at all, and I like it that way.  I've got some decent friends around town, but I'm not a good buddy kind of guy.  I don't hang out with a crowd of other older men, don't join clubs or things like that, and I'm not a church person.  If I feel the need to hang out, I do it with a former Oakland Raider football player now in the vinyard business . . . or with rancher down in Mason . . . or with a neighbor up the street who collects vintage cars.  It's a quiet life, and a good one.

I point this out about my hometown for a reason.  Places like Brady, Texas are important to our national interests, our well being.  If all America had to offer was a city, we'd been in deep doo doo.  And we're moving in that direction with each passing day.  As small towns decline, so does America, and we are declining because most Americans don't live in places like I do.  They're cityslickers, and most of the people filling elected government positions are one of them.  That not only concerns me; it scares me.  I understand why people gravitate toward urban centers.  Everyone needs a job, and you've got to go where you can find the better jobs.  Not everyone can afford to live in a small town because they've got to make a living.  But at the same time, we can't afford to forget about rural America.  Out here in the boonies might not be where the brains of America live, but it's damn sure the heart of America.  And when the heart stops pumping blood to the brain, it dies. 

The books I write aren't usually about cities or the people who live there.  I've written one book set in a large town, and I have no plans of doing so again.  I write about small towns, the people who live there, and in doing so try to point out both the good and bad aspects of rural living.  I write about farms and ranches, about wildernesses and wild country, and even about places most people wouldn't care to visit.  I do that for a reason.  Looking at rural America is like looking into a mirror of our past.  It's where we came from, and if we take a careful, critical look at it, we'll see where we're going.  And we sure need a clearer view of that.  You can find what I write under the pen names Philip Martin Cawlfield, Cletus Duhon, and D. Paz Dalton.  And that, my friends, is a shameless promotion from a small town hick.  Even country folks have to pay bills, you know.